Fuel control for internal-combustion engines.



FUEL CONTROL FOR \NTERNAL COMBUSTION APPLICATION HLEDNO v. x, 1916. Y

- Patenmfi Apr. 2,1918.

are sparse earner entree.

GEORGE A. TURNER, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA.

.FUEL CONTROL FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION EN GINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2, F918.

Application filed November 1, 1916. Serial No. 128,975.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be; it known that LGEORGE A. TURNER," a citizen of the United States,residing atv clear, and exact description of the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in the control of the fuel supplyconnected with internal combustion engines of all types. There is agrowing tendency by the users of such engines to adopt distillate orsimilar fuels as a most satisfactory fuel for use in engines of the typenoted. The main drawback to the use of this fuel, however, is that it isevery hard fuel with'which to start the engine, due tothe fact that itscombustion is much greater'when it is heated or admitted into a heatedengine. This difiiculty can be overcome by having a supply of gasolene,or other more volatile oil,

' present in the carbureter of the engine when itvis desired to startthe same. The difficultyof doing this, however. has heretofore renderedthe use of distillate somewhat unpopular. It is therefore the aim of myinvention to provide an automatic means for supplying either gasolene, amixture of gasolene and distillate, or distillate itself, directly tothe carburetor.

. My invention therefore embodies a gasolene supply and a distillatesupply leading to a common control valve with a single pipe leading fromthe valve to the carbureter. The valve itself is so constructed that itcan be operated to deliver to the single pipe either the gasolene ormixture of gasolene and distillate,.or the distillate alone, and, inaddition to this, can shut off both. The advantages ofthis shutting oftof both are many, the principal one being that it revents a waste of thefuel out of the 'car ureter by evaporation or leakage. A Verylarge percent. of all carburetors leak whendeft standing for a period of time,but by complete shutting 0d" of the fuel supply, this is obviated. Alsowhen an engine is stopped, it is usually very hot and the carbureterbeing immediately ad acent the engine, the evaporation caused by theheat is very great with the resultant loss of a large percentage of thefuel.

My improved valve will be automatically controlled with the throttlelover of the car-- bureter. As the car is brought to a stop; thethrottle lever is moved to retard the fuel supply, and, with thismovement the control valve noted above is operated first,

to shut off the distillate supply gradually and then substitute thereforthe gasolene supply so that when the car comes to a stop the gasolenesupply will be in direct communi'cation with the carbureter so that whenthe car is ready to start again, the gasolene,

, trolmeans when the same becomes necessary.

As ,a still further advantage of my improved control means I provide alock carried by the valve so that it can be locked in closed positionwhich will prevent the theft or unauthorized use of the, car. Also thereare a great many other advantages of my improved structure which will beobvious as the description of the same is proceeded with.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be excecdinglyeffective for the purposesfor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the steering wheel of a motor vehicle showingthe throttle lever thereon for the purpose of illustrating the differentpositions of, the same with respect to the control valve.

Fig. 2 is "a planview of the control valve broken out 'and in section toshow their:- terior structure thereof. The relative size of this valveis here shown as somewhat larger than it would probably be in actualpractice in order that the different parts Spiral springs 13 aredisposed around the Fig. 4t is a similar view showing the gasolene anddistillate pipes both in communi cation with the carbureter pipe.

Fig. 5'is another similar view wherein the distillate pipe alone is incommunication with the carbureter pipe.

:lcferring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the numeral 1 designates a pipe WlllCh would be connected withthe gasolene sup ply means which could be either'an independentreceptacle or a divisional part of the main -it'uel tank. The numeral 2designates the distillate supply pipe. These pipes 1 and 2 communicatewith the valve casing 3 at points closely adjacent one another for apurpose as will presently appear. The carbureter pipe l leads from theopposite side of the casing 3. The valve disk 5 rotates within thecasing 3 and is provided with same diameter as the pipes 1 and 2arranged to register with either of tie pipes 1 or 2 or partly witheach. This port 6 enlarges at its opposite end as at 7 where it is ofsuch diameter as to register with the pipe 1 whenever the portion 6thereof is in register "with either 01 the pipes 1 or 2 or partly witheach. By means of this structure therefore the pipe 4 may be put intocommunication with the pipe 1 alone, partly with each of the pipes 1 and2, or with the pipe 2, merely by rotating the disk 5.

This rotation of the disk 5 is accomplished by means of the valve lever8 which connects with the disk 5 in the usual manner. This lever 8 has aslotted end 9 which fits over the throttle control rod 1.0 of theengine. This thr ttle rod 10 is provided with two spaced threadedportions -'11 mounted on which are ad]ustment nuts 12.

rod 10 and are interposed between the nuts 12 and small follower heads'14 which impinge against the slotted end 9 of the lever 8. The tensionof the springs 18 is controlled by the nuts 12 and is such that underthe ordinary moven'ient ot the rod 10 the lever 8 will be moved to turnthe disk 5.

l leferring new to Fig. 1, the numeral 15 designates the throt le leverwhich controls the movement oi? the rod 10 and this moves over the usualquadrant 16. In providing my improved invention, this throttle lever isprovided with four designating points a port 6 of substantially the.

a, b, c and d. When the throttle lever 15 is at the point a, the rod 10is in that position which holds the disk 5 in the position shown in Fig.1, which shuts 011' all of the fuel from the carburetor. When the lever15 is at the position b, the disk 5 is in that position shown in Fig. 3where the gasolene supply is connected lip with the carburetor. Theposition ,c places the disk 5 in that position shown in Fig. 4 where amixture of gasolene and distillate is admitted to the carbureter. Theposition (1 places the disk 5 in the position shown in Fig. 5 whereindistillate alone is being admitted to the carbureter. The tension of thesprings 13 i sutficient to move the lever 8 so that the disk 5 will moveto all these various positions. alt, however, it is desired to stillfurther accelerate the speed of the motor, the rod 10 can beforced'stil-l further, this being permitted of by reason of the factthat the springs 13 will then give under the pressure against the lever8. The disk 5 of course is provided with the usual valve stops forpreventing this further movement under these conditions.

Assumingnow that the engine has been stopped for a period of time, thelever 15 will be at the position a and thecontrol valve consequentlycompletely closed. The operator of the engine desires to start same sohe moves the lever 15 to the'posit'ion b. This opens communicationbetween the pipe 1 and the pipe 4 and admits pure gasolene to thecarbureter. As is well known, this is a fuel with which it is easy tostart the engine. The engine being started and gradually accelerated,the lever 15 .is moved gradually from the point b to the point 'ic. Thisopens communication from the pipe 2 to the pipe t so that distillate isadded to the gasolene, and this is continued until the point e isreached, at which point an equal amount of gasolene and distillate isused. The continued advancement of the lever 15 from the point e to thepoint d gradually diminishes the gasolene supply and increases thedistillate supply until the point d is reached, at which point cleardistillate isadmittcd to the earbureter. By this time the engine issufficiently under way to properly handle the distillate as its fuel.The advantages of thi fuel are many, among which is its lesser cost andits better volatile qualities when admitted to a warm engine.

During the ordinary daily operation of theengine when the engine isbrought to a stop, the throttle lever 15 is of course graduallyretarded. This first shuts off the dis 'tillate andadmits gasolene anddistillate and ihen finally shuts oil the distillate and admits gasolenealone. Duringthis daily 1 small-recess'l7 therein is in naemeo wouldkeep a continuous supply of the gasolene in the carbureter. The positiona would be used when the engine was stopped for a definite period sothat leakage of the carburetor and evaporation of the fuel therefromcould be avoided.

' When the engine is to be-stopped for a definite-period and a theft orunauthorized use of the vehicle to which it is attached is "'tp beprevented the disk 5 is turned to full closed position. When in thisosition a register with the lock bolt 18 on a suitable key lockmechanism 19. The lock 19 is then operated with this key to bring thebolt 18 into the recess 17 which prevents the movement of the disk 5yn'til. unlocked again, The result of thi is obvious.

Having set forth now in detail improved invention, the manifoldadvantages thereof will be readily apparent to those gines, and, whileafew of the many advantages are set forth in the preamble to thisspecification, still there are a great many others. Probably thegreatest of these is the fact that the entire structure is absolutelyautomatic and when once installed needs no particular attention otherthan the ordinary operation of the engine. The throttleitever is alwaysnaturally retarded to stop or start the engine and gradually advanced toaccelerate the engine. fuel is controlled automatically in thecarbureter, which is the most advantageous forthe purposes noted. Theuse of the double fuel has often been advocated but never been put intopractice due to the fact that there has been heretofore noway ofautomatically controlling the same which is the only practical way tohandle it.

From the foregoing descriptionit will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfils the object of.

the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations 5 fromsuch detail may be resorted to asdo not form a departure from the spiritof the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with an engine having a. carbureter and a throttlelever for controlling the quantity of combustible mixture drawn by theengine from the carbureter, of a means for varying the grade of the fueladmitted to the carbureter in direct relation to the quantity of thecombustible mixture of internal combustion en With this operation the.

" inlet pipe, 7

lever of the carbureter for controlling. the

the fuel admitted into the carburetor will be gradually'altered indirect relation to the quantity: of the combustible mixture drawn fromthe carbureter.

2. A fuel control fair and internal combus t1on engine, comprising avalve casing havpurpose of admitting the casing, a single arranged tolead to mg two inlets for the two different fuels to outlet from thecasing the 'carbureter of'the able within the casing and having a portfor opening communicationbetween either or both of said inlets and saidoutlet, a throttle lever for controlling the quantity of the combustiblemixture drawn from the carbureter into the engine, a means interposedbetween said throttle lever and the disk to increase. or diminish thequantity of the combustible material drawn from the carbureter into theengine, the outlet from said casing will be consecutively placed inconnection first with one inlet,-then with both and then with the otherwhereby the grade of the fuel admitted to the outlet will be regulatedin direct relation to the amount of combustible mixture drawn from thecarbureter into the engine.

3. Theeombination with a carbureter having a-fuell'inlet arranged forcommunication with supply means 'for different grades of fuel, of leanscontrolled by the throttle lever-of the carbureter for gradually alter'ing the,

grade of the fuel admitted to the carbureter in direct relation to thequantity of combustible mixture drawn from the carbureter.

4. The combination with a carburetor fuel of means operable by thethrottle grade of the fuel admitted into the inlet pipe in directrelation. to the quantity of combustible mixture withdrawn from thecarbureter, said control including means for completely closing thefue'l inlet pipe when none of such mixture is being withdrawn from thecarburetor.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

' GEORGE A.-TURNER.

engine, a disk turn- .91) whereby, when the throttle lever is, moved,

